The exception that proves the rule. A blog of short writings from Australia and England.

Monday, 2 January 2017

Overheard

The two of them were standing in line at the local fast food store, readying themselves to order. They would've been in their early twenties, casually chatting about gaming. They looked fairly similar, certainly not different enough to be memorable, though one was slightly taller than the other. Another guy about the same age, though twice as fat, walked in behind them, and the first two guys swung around and had a glance at him. "Hey!" said the shorter of the two in surprise "how you going Andrew, haven't seen you in ages!"

Andrew smiled and shook his hand. "Yeah, ages Pete, how've you been?"

"Good! Yourself? Oh hey, this is Tom by the way."

Tom, the taller of the two, extended his hand, "Andrew is it? Tom."

Andrew glanced at Tom's extended hand briefly before looking directly into his eyes. "I know who you are, you used to bully me."

Tom's fake smile grew genuine, he made a surprized "hah" noise, before dropping his hand and pulling a puzzled face.

"We went to the same highschool," said Andrew.

Tom shook his head and shrugged.

"We used to ride the same bus. Do you not remember any of this at all? You used to bully me everyday."

"Hey we were just talking about the new Call of Duty," said Pete, attempting to reinsert himself in the conversation and get them off the bullying topic. Andrew wasn't listening, he was staring at Tom. By now, Tom had slipped his phone from his pocket and was busy swiping something repeatedly in an attempt to appear busy.

"Next please," called the girl at the service counter, and with that Tom swiveled on his feet in order to face the counter once more, and all the while, his face stayed glued to his phone. He didn't say a word to Andrew as he began walking away.